The impact of husband's job loss on partners' mental health

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of job loss on
family mental well-being. The negative income shock can affect the mental health
status of the individual who directly experiences such displacement, as well as the
psychological well-being of his partner; also, job loss may have a significantly
detrimental effect on life satisfaction, self-esteem and on the individual’s perceived
role in society. This analysis is based on a sample of married and cohabitating
couples from the first 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey. In order to
correct for the possible endogeneity of job loss, data from employment histories is
utilised and redundancies (different from dismissals) in declining industries are used
as an indicator of exogenous job loss. Results show evidence that couples in which
the husband experiences a job loss are more likely to experience poor mental health.